Quasisymmetric maps, shears, lambda lengths and flips (Q6120411)

This paper studies quasisymmetric maps, acting on the boundary of the hyperbolic plane \(\mathbb{H}\), and characterizes a subclass, introduced by Penner and Sullivan, using shearing coordinates, or using the flip distance. A new notion of universal modular group is defined. The main tool is the action on the Farey triangulation induced by a quasisymmetric map. Quasisymmetric maps play an important role in the Teichmüller theory of surfaces, in particular for the universal Teichmüller space. Penner and Sullivan [\textit{R. C. Penner}, Adv. Math. 98, No. 2, 143--215 (1993; Zbl 0772.30040)] studied quasisymmetric maps via their action on decorated triangulations, that is an ideal triangulation of \(\mathbb{H}\) together with a choice of a horocycle at each vertex. They proved that a map is quasisymmetric if the lambda lengths associated to the decorated triangulation are pinched. The first result of the paper is the construction of an example of a quasisymmetric map, for which no decoration has pinched lambda lengths. This shows that the quasisymmetric maps studied by Penner and Sullivan form a strict subclass of all quasisymmetric maps. The two main theorems of the paper then characterize the quasisymmetric maps of Penner-Sullivan type in terms of shear coordinates, and then in terms of the flip distance. A homeomorphism \(h\) of the boundary \(\hat{\mathbb{R}}\) of \(\mathbb{H}\) is of Penner-Sullivan type if and only if \(\mathcal{F}\) and \(h(\mathcal{F})\) have finie flip distance, where \(\mathcal{F}\) denotes the Farey triangulation. The proof uses the geometry of the hyperbolic plane and intersection numbers between triangulations. The paper concludes by defining a notion of universal modular group, which is the set of all homeomorphisms \(h\) of \(\hat{\mathbb{R}}\) preserving \(\hat{\mathbb{Q}}\) such that \(\mathcal{F}\) and \(h(\mathcal{F})\) have the finite intersection property. This group contains all mapping class groups of finite-type punctured surfaces.